5 Things We Learned from UFC 115

Jun 13, 2010

Pat
Barry File Photo: Sherdog.com

It’s Time for Chuck Liddell to Find His
Sunset

After 23 fights in the UFC, many of them as a headliner, Chuck
Liddell has finally given the sport all he has to give. His
first-round knockout loss to Rich
Franklin illustrated that point in unfortunate and visceral
fashion.

The image of Liddell laid out on the canvas in a discombobulated
haze as his body and brain struggled to get on the same page was
something no one wanted to see, but it felt all too predictable.
Liddell’s arsenal of knockout punches aren’t as fast or powerful as
they used to be. The chin that used to eat return fire with ease
can barely survive an exchange.

If Dana White expects anyone to believe that he cares about his
fighters, he’ll tell Liddell -- one of the men who helped make the
UFC what it is today -- that it’s time to call it a career.

Pat Barry Is Wasting His Potential

There was a moment in the first round of Patrick
Barry’s fight with Mirko
Filipovic where he dropped his hands and embraced the man he
was being paid to fight. Moments like that make for a unique
visual, but it’s worrying that Barry couldn’t get over his doe-eyed
hero worship of Filipovic long enough to finish the job he
started.

Cro Cop was getting outclassed by his youthful foe until Barry
simply stopped doing the things that were winning him the fight.
For whatever reason, Barry stopped throwing the leg kicks that were
hobbling Filipovic and seemed dead-set on scoring a high-kick
knockout.

All it got him was a gas tank running on empty and a submission to
a rear-naked choke with no hooks in. It’s time for Barry to throw
away the junk food and become a professional, or he’ll end up just
another sad story in an unforgiving sport.

Martin Kampmann Is Only Getting
Better

The vast majority of fans and observers, myself included, thought
Martin
Kampmann would give Paulo
Thiago a good fight en route to a loss. Past displays of
Kampmann’s iffy chin and poor game planning were seemingly enough
to ensure that Thiago would eventually gain the upper hand and hold
onto it.

Instead Kampmann reminded the world that he is still one of the
most gifted offensive fighters in the game. Better yet, Kampmann
showed up with a strategy perfectly tailored to show off his
strengths and camouflage his weaknesses.

If this becomes the norm for Kampmann, the welterweight division
just got that much more interesting.

Evan Dunham Is the Truth

Tyson
Griffin has lost before, but no one has been able to outclass
him until now. Ignore Tony Weeks’ egregious 29-28 scorecard,
because Evan Dunham
beat Griffin in every facet of the game.

Save for some anxious moments as Dunham struggled to find his range
early on, this fight was nothing less than Dunham announcing
himself as the UFC’s newest lightweight title contender. A
heavy-hitting southpaw with killer back control is no joke. Dunham
proved against Griffin that he has the wrestling to dictate where
his fights will go.

The winner of the lightweight title rematch between Frankie
Edgar and B.J. Penn will
likely have to worry about Dunham much sooner than later.

The first two calls were serious mistakes and the third is already
igniting some contentious debates. What they all have in common is
that the consequences are felt entirely by the fighters. Judges and
referees really answer to no one as long as they can construct even
the most flimsy defense for their actions.

I’ve said this many times before and I’ll say it again now: There
is a serious problem with the judging and refereeing of MMA and
something has to be done about it.